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The search for Brett O'Grady, a rally to support trans youth, and blue dimes: Top 5 stories in Ottawa this week

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A desperate search for a missing Shopify executive, a rally in support of trans youth and blue dimes.

CTVNewsOttawa.ca looks at the top five stories on our website this week.

The search for Brett O'Grady

The search continued this week for Brett O'Grady, a 35-year-old Shopify executive who went missing in Ottawa.

Over the weekend, family and friends set up search teams and canvassed neighbourhoods across Ottawa with flyers and posters about O'Grady's disappearance. A massive police search near where his bicycle was spotted turned up few leads.

Shopify, where O'Grady works as head of treasury and risk, engaged a private search firm to aid in finding him.

The family is offering a reward of $10,000 for tips that lead to O'Grady being found.

Brett O'Grady, 35, was reported missing from the Avro Circle area in Ottawa's east end on Oct. 14, 2021. He was last seen wearing the clothes in the middle photo. (Photos shared by family)

Blue dimes celebrate Bluenose centennial

There could be a bit of blue in your pockets soon as the Royal Canadian Mint launces a newly redesigned dime to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Bluenose schooner.

The famous ship has adorned Canadian dimes since 1937 and it underwent a redesign in the newly minted coins. For the first time, the dimes will have a splash of colour, with the Atlantic Ocean waters dyed a deep blue.

Six million coloured versions of the coin with the new Bluenose design are being circulated, as well as an additional nine million uncoloured versions.

The coins are also double-dated ‘1921-2021’ in recognition of the anniversary.

The Royal Canadian Mint is launching Canada’s first-ever coloured dimes to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Bluenose. (Royal Canadian Mint)

Ottawa reaches major vaccine milestone

Ottawa Public Health reported a significant milestone in the effort to vaccinate residents against COVID-19 this week.

On Monday, the public health unit confirmed that 90 per cent of residents born in or before 2009 had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

90 per cent coverage has been the target set by OPH for months in order to reach critical levels of immunity within the community and slow the transmission of the deadly SARS-CoV-2 virus.

As of Friday, 86 per cent of eligible residents were fully vaccinated.

Health-care worker Thi Nguyen administers Pfizer-BioNtech COVID-19 vaccine to a patient at a COVID-19 clinic in Ottawa on Tuesday, March 30, 2021. (Sean Kilpatrick/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

MPP in hot water after restaurant comments

Restaurateurs in Ottawa reacted strongly to comments made in the legislature by an Ottawa MPP and cabinet minister, suggesting they're not following vaccine certificate rules.

Nepean MPP Lisa MacLeod made the statement in the Ontario legislature on Tuesday, saying nearly one-third of Ottawa restaurants aren’t enforcing proof of vaccination requirements.

MacLeod told CTV News she and Social Services Minister Merrilee Fullerton received a briefing from Ottawa Public Health officials, who raised concern and shared the number.

A spokesperson for MacLeod said Wednesday that she was unavailable for an interview.

But it's possible she was referring to a blitz of 31 businesses that Ottawa bylaw officials conducted on Friday and Saturday to check for compliance with rules on masking, capacity limits, contact tracing and proof of vaccination.

Of the 31 businesses inspected, 10 were found not to be in compliance with various rules, the city's director of bylaw services Roger Chapman said in a statement on Wednesday.

However, the inspections focused on establishments previously reported as being non-compliant. And the violations were of various provincial rules, not just vaccination requirements.

The comments came amid a push by restaurant owners to lift capacity restrictions, which have already been lifted for much larger venues.

The province announced capacities in restaurants and many other restricted settings this Monday.

Students, community members and politicians rally to support trans youth

There was a large turnout for a rally to support and uplift trans youth in the capital in response to a much smaller demonstration outside some Ottawa schools.

A man named Chris Elston, a.k.a. Billboard Chris, brought his travelling sandwich board protest to Broadview Avenue this week to protest what he calls "gender ideology"—that is, the idea that children can be born into the wrong body and can acknowledge that—in schools.

A counter-protest organized by Rainbow Carleton sought to block students’ view of Elston’s one-man demonstration as he stood outside the school with a sign. The counter demonstration drew students, some city councillors, at least one MPP, and many others to the street.

Those gathered held signs saying ‘Trans Youth Matter’, Protect Trans Kids’, and chanted "Trans rights are human rights."

Elston eventually packed up his things and left.

Dozens gathered to protest an anti-trans activist outside a west Ottawa school on Tuesday morning. (CTV Morning Live)

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